Description

Tutorial prerequisites.

Everybody developing code can profit from a version control system, no
matter whether it is code written in Python or any other programming
language or even a paper written, e.g., in LaTeX. A very popular version
control system, particularly in the development of open source software,
is Git which this tutorial will be devoted to. We will explore the basic
workflow of code development with Git and also take a look at how code
can be developed collaboratively with the help of Github.

While the example used to gain experience with the Git workflow will be
based on Python code, a knowledge of Python is not strictly required for
the purpose of this tutorial.

Apart from Python, which is only needed if you want to run the script
used in the example, you will need the Git software to follow the Git
workflow on your computer. See
git-scm.com/downloads for binaries
for Mac OS X and Windows as well as installation instructions for Linux
and Solaris. There is no need to install a Git GUI as all examples will
be demonstrated on the command line.

If you want to follow along the Github workflow at the end of the
tutorial, you might want to sign up for Github at
github.com. This will require you to choose a
user name and a password and to provide your email address. Even if you
do not sign up for Github, you will still be able to do most of the
examples on your computer.

The tutorial can be obtained from
Github. You
can get the LaTeX source and the images by downloading a zip file from
Github or by
cloning the repository once you have Git installed: